Venessa's 45th Birthday Balloons - Aug15

This year we were in chilly Christchurch to celebrate what would have been Venessa's 45th birthday. We went down to Hagley Park and let them go against the cold grey sky.

Jonathan adores balloons - he was a bit stumped and confused when the first one got away from him, but then seemed to understand what we were doing.

He even wrote (or randomly scribbled) a message on one of them.

Young Bamboo & Family Backyard Photos - Aug15

As you are probably aware, we have become very passionate about our clumping bamboo project this year. Just about every weekend this winter we have been busy in the garden preparing the ground for our bamboo as well as landscaping around the front.

The project is all finished now (well at least the bamboo plantings) and we have a total of 39 bamboo plants around our property! While we planted eight Gracilis last year, a total of 31 have been put down in just the last 4 months.

We have planted a variety of bamboo - in addition to the tried and trusted Gracilis (note five more have been recently planted), we have also put down 10 Golden Stripes to block the neighbours next door, four Tiger Stripes, a couple of Barbelettas, a few black bamboo (a couple of Timor Blacks plus a Java Black), a New Guinea Green, a White Ghost (supposed to be the fastest growing...), a Giant Buddha Belly in one of the corners, an Oldhamii along the sunny south side, a China Gold along the back, a Blue Chungii in one of the corners and finally a Nepalese Blue in the shady corner in the front yard.

I did a couple of photo shoots this month and have combined them into one posting. I have also included some shots of Jonathan who is now almost 21 months old and asserting his independence! The dogs have also been included in a photo or two.

(Below) Three Gracilis along the south side. Planted late 2014 and have had just 1/2 a growing season but are pretty much established now. Hoping for some real growth this summer in these three

(Below) Nepalese Blue, planted in the front yard in the corner. This bamboo is quite small and prefers shade

(Below) Jonathan posing out the front garden. Jenn has been busy landscaping and putting succulents, lemon trees and dragon trees down. The fruiting trees come next...

(Below) 10 Golden Stripe bamboo line the fence opposite our bedroom window. These only grow to around 4 metres but will provide privacy from the neighbours next door

(Below) Our original Gracilis bamboo, planted in April 2014. They are fully established and are now around 4-5 metres in height with probably at least another 2 metres worth of growth (and filling out) left. 

(Below) The north side of the fenceline, just a bit further down from the Gracilis above. Here we have (from left to right), a Tiger Stripe, a Barbeletta, another Tiger Stripe, another Barbeletta and a third Tiger Stripe. Next to that is a White Ghost, then a New Guinea Green, a Java Black and finally a Giant Buddha Belly in the corner

(Below) Shot of the White Ghost. Of all the bamboo we have planted, I think this one will be one of the more interesting in not just its growth rate, but the end result. At present it is just a couple of culms with a handful of large tropical like leaves

(Below) Jonathan in front of the New Guinea Green. This is expected to grow to around 10 metres

(Below) More shots of Jonathan posing with his hat!

(Below) The Java Black bamboo. We bought this from a Brisbane nursery and it is already fairly well established. If it'll look anything like the images I have seen of fully grown plants then it'll be stunning

(Below) The Giant Buddha Belly. This one grows outwards and occupies a large surface area. Sometimes people hollow out the centre and place furniture in the middle. It is more slow growing when compared to some of the other plants

(Below) Jonathan walking behind the five Gracilis we have planted along the back fenceline

(Below) Another view of the five Gracilis. At the top of the image you can see the newly planted China Gold

(Below) The China Gold. Another ornamental bamboo - like the Giant Buddha Belly, it has a wide circumference and is renown for its beautiful golden culms

(Below) Possibly the feature bamboo. This is a Bambusa Chungii which has replaced the large tree in the far corner. It'll grow to around 10 metres in height but evidently has amazing blue culms - up to around 8cm across

(Below) The south side of our property. On the left is a Timor Black. In the middle is an Oldhamii which will probably be the tallest bamboo as they can grow to around 12 metres. On the right is another Timor Black

(Below) A selection of shots of Cookie, Jonathan and Bruce all enjoying themselves out in our garden!

(Below) One of the Golden Stripes, capturing the late afternoon sun

(Below) Another view of the 10 Golden Stripes

(Below) Love this shot of Jonathan - he briefly looked up at the camera and I captured a pretty good shot of him